A team of international astronomers has detected features never seen before using data from NASA missions and other facilities. The observations are from the supermassive black hole at the center of a distant galaxy, 1ES 1927+654.
Monitoring the black hole since its massive outburst in 2018, the team observed a steady increase in low-energy X-rays in April 2023. This triggered new radio observations that revealed a strong and unusual radio flare. The scientists then conducted intensive observations using the NRAO’s VLBA and other facilities.
The data shows two plasma jets extending from either side of the black hole, each about half a light-year long. These findings provide critical clues to why only a fraction of monster black holes produce powerful plasma jets. The team believes that an ionized gas jet was launched earlier than previously thought, likely when X-ray fluctuations increased before the radio flare.
Additional research suggests that rapid X-ray variations were caused by an object orbiting within the black hole’s accretion disk. The fluctuations led to a shortening of the orbital period, with the object moving at half the speed of light. However, when the object reached a certain distance from the event horizon, its gravitational pull began to strip away matter, stabilizing the fluctuation period.
The findings imply that a low-mass white dwarf could remain intact close to the black hole’s event horizon while shedding some of its matter. This model predicts that gravitational waves produced by this companion would be detectable by LISA, an ESA mission in partnership with NASA expected to launch in the next decade.
Source: https://science.nasa.gov/universe/black-holes/supermassive-black-holes/astronomers-catch-unprecedented-features-at-brink-of-active-black-hole